Nicole Cowart
Living in harmony with the rest of the world is fast becoming a necessity. That’s why ecological consciousness is gaining popularity in almost every facet of human life. Whether it’s in our careers or in school, we are constantly reminded that we need to respect the natural world. Everything we do must be in harmony with plants, insects, and animals because if we depend on them for our very survival. Just think about. What would the world be like without insects? Scientists have already answered this question. If we drove all the bees towards extinction, for instance, we would only survive for 4 years because without these seemingly inconsequential creatures, plants would not reproduce. Our food source would dwindle to the point where we would have nothing to eat.
That’s why we need to be conscious of our environment and cultivate ecological consciousness in our learning institution to ensure humanity develops a cultural sensitivity to the environment. But if we are to make sure environmental education catches on, instilling such a culture requires education at the earliest opportunity.
However, that opens up a new set of challenges. How can you ensure learners not only get sensitized to the need for conserving the environment, but that they also actively aim at developing ecological consciousness even when they are out of school?
Developing Environmental Thinking in Schools
Trying to teach new a new thing to young minds doesn’t necessarily have to be hard. The earliest teachers, Socrates and Plato, left a roadmap that teachers have relied on for thousands of years to teach new concepts to learners. This roadmap is yet to fail, and so, it’s only logical that we use it to make sure young pupils develop ecological consciousness early on. If you have no time allocated to self-development – check customwriting.com, you always have a chance to ask for professional help. Here’s an effective method to make sure students are educated enough to preserve and protect the environment.
#1: Establish Clear Learning Goals
The first thing you will want to do when cultivating environmental consciousness in a school setting is to set clear goals. Learners must know what they are getting out of any undertaking at a learning institution. That is why you must start by telling them why they are learning about environmental conservation and why it matters. That is the only way they will be able to associate what they learn in class and what’s happening in the world around them.
#2: Be Relevant
Another thing you will want to do so as to make learners sensitive about the environment is making the matter relevant. You want to make it so that they can readily associate what they are learning with what is going on in the world. For instance, while teaching pupils about the need to conserve the environment, show them real-life examples of how the environment has been degraded, such as whales dying because of plastics filling up our oceans or the disappearance of birds because of ever-growing pollution levels. With these examples, learners will be able to know why they need to conserve the environment.
#3: Help Them Reflect on What They’ve Learned
One of the quickest ways of learning a new concept is reflecting on what is taught. Without reflection, new concepts often fade away into oblivion. For learners to develop environmental consciousness, they have to live it and that means getting the chance to reflect on the state of the world and what they can do to improve it. Giving them takeaway assignments on ecological consciousness will help your learners grasp taught concepts and practice them.
#4: Change Things Up Often
No one likes dull and monotonous things. If your environmental education class is boring, you can bet none of your pupils will take to it. But you can make the class interesting by including fun activities like trips every so often.
These four steps will help you establish a culture of environmental consciousness in just about any learning institutions. Not only will students be looking forward to your classes, but they will develop a genuine interest in protecting the environment and living in harmony with every species in the world. At the same time, the world will be in your gratitude because you’ll have brought it one step closer to salvation.
Nicole Cowart is a writer. She has experience writing articles and blogs on how human activities are damaging our planet. She also spends her days raising awareness about endangered species on various platforms. When Nicole is not busy saving the world, she likes to take long strolls in nature.